


Even Geniuses Can Be Idiots

by orphan_account



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Childbirth, M/M, Mpreg, Newt's an idiot sometimes, graphic birth
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-17
Updated: 2013-12-17
Packaged: 2018-01-04 22:30:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1086409
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>[I'm having a tough time with the end of "Thorin's Heir", so I'm taking a break and writing something else for a while. :/ ]</p><p>I figure that Newt is the kind of person who, if he were pregnant, would keep working pretty much until his water broke. And that gave me an idea...</p><p>(I've never really written Newton or Hermann much before, so if something is a little off, please feel free to tell me)</p>
    </blockquote>





	Even Geniuses Can Be Idiots

**Author's Note:**

> [I'm having a tough time with the end of "Thorin's Heir", so I'm taking a break and writing something else for a while. :/ ]
> 
> I figure that Newt is the kind of person who, if he were pregnant, would keep working pretty much until his water broke. And that gave me an idea...
> 
> (I've never really written Newton or Hermann much before, so if something is a little off, please feel free to tell me)

Newton Geiszler was humming to himself, standing hunched over the table in his lab and flipping through a well-worn book. It was dog-eared and torn and stained, and there was a smile in his eyes as he looked over its pages. At last he seemed to find what he was looking for: an illustration of a kaiju skeleton, resembling both a dinosaur and a wasp but with more legs than either one should have. He stood up, one hand on the swell of his belly, and reached into a large box on the other side of the table. From it he pulled a model bone, bleached-white and as long as his forearm. The bone was set carefully on the table, and soon joined by three or four similar ones of varying sizes.

Newt stood back from the table and grimaced. One hand still cradled his belly, and the other was pressed into the small of his back. "You're killin' me, kid." he muttered, glancing down at the bump. "You won't stop kicking me when I sit down, and now that I'm up you punch me in the kidneys?" he winced. "I love you too." The scientist picked up two of the bones, peered over at the book, and fitted the ends together, mumbling something under his breath about vestigial limbs. After a moment he stopped and sighed- the pressure in his back had stopped. " _Thank_ you." He continued fiddling with the ceramic kaiju bones, assembling and disassembling them, and after a while forgot about the incident. But sometime later, just as he was wiring together a pair of metacarpals, it happened again. Newt hissed through his teeth and nearly dropped the bones in his surprise. " _Ow_. What the hell-?" He automatically put a hand to his belly and felt the muscles beneath it tightening, and groaned. Another practice contraction; they'd been coming and going for weeks now. He held still, waiting for it to pass. It soon did, and he returned to his work.

This happened a few more times before Newt started to get suspicious; several times he reached for his phone to text Hermann, and decided against it each time, telling himself that it was probably just a false alarm. But as the pressure spread from his back to his belly and left him panting, he started having second thoughts. He picked up his phone- and as if on cue, his water broke moments later. He let out a yell of mixed surprise and pain; with the cushion of fluid around the baby gone, its head suddenly seemed to be pressed right against his pelvis. He fumbled with the phone and managed to send a short text: "ur needed in lab. urgent". Then another contraction hit, strong and sudden, and his legs wouldn't hold him anymore. He sank to the floor; his phone slipped from his hand and he heard the kaiju skeleton crashing apart, but he didn't care. It was all happening too fast. He could just see Hermann's face when he found him; it would be just like when he tried to Drift with the kaiju brain. Once again, here he was: alone, in pain, on the floor of the lab, because he'd been stupid. His phone chirped above him, but he couldn't get up to reach it. "Sorry, Herm." he said through gritted teeth. Another round of pain; he growled and pulled himself into a kneeling position, supporting himself with a hand on each knee. It felt different suddenly- more concentrated. He could feel his body responding to it, tensing and bearing down. "No. Nonono. Not yet, not now- nngh!" The pain intensified, throbbing up through his pelvis and back, then subsided. Suddenly his pants seemed far too small; after a moment of scrabbling, he peeled off the wet denim and shorts and tossed them aside. 

A new contraction began soon after. Newt shifted back onto his knees and tried to resist his body's commands to push: Hermann would be here soon, along with a medical team, he just had to hold it off until then...

Fifteen minutes and several contractions later, it was abundantly clear that the baby was coming if he liked it or not, with or without Hermann. He moved his knees farther apart and took a deep breath, and let himself push with the next contraction that came. A groan rose from deep in his throat, crescendoed into a scream, and still he pushed. When it was over, he sank back onto his heels and shut his eyes. "C'mon man, where are you...?"

~◇◇  ◆◆  ◇◇~

Hermann Gottlieb limped along as fast as his good leg could carry him. When he had seen Newton's text, it was safe to say that the mathematician had never moved faster. Several times he tripped, and swore vehemently when he nearly fell. He was afraid, and he was angry: afraid because Newton was in trouble, angry at him for getting into trouble- and angry at himself for letting it happen. Somehow he had been talked into letting his nine-months-pregnant husband work alone in the lab while he was off doing his own research, and now the idiot had no doubt injured himself. Yes, Newton was a grown man and could make his own decisions, but one of those decisions had infamously ended with him twitching on the floor of the K-Science lab with his brain hooked up to a dead kaiju. As much as he loved Newton, the man had an infuriating tendency to leap before he looked.

Suddenly, a scream echoed off the walls. Was that-? It was. Newton. His blood went cold and he broke into a shambling run down the corridor.

By the time he reached the door to the lab, all was quiet. The door was ajar, so he let himself in; looking around, not much seemed out of the ordinary...

"Newton?" he called. "Where are you?"

A weak voice came from behind him. "Took you long enough, dude."

Hermann spun around. It took him only a moment to take in the scene:

His husband.

On the floor.

In pain.

Bleeding.

"Newt!" Hermann rushed over and crouched awkwardly in front of the young man. Newt lifted his head with a faint smile. "Thought the baby was gonna get here before you did."

"It nearly did," said Hermann. "The head is coming to crown."

"Great." Newton was letting out short, panting breaths. "Herm, I gotta-" his words disappeared into a groan as he pushed with the growing contraction. Hermann watched as the baby's head emerged, inch by inch, painfully stretching the skin around it. "ItburnsitburnsitburnsitBURNS" hissed Newt. Hermann put a reassuring hand on his husband's knee. "Again." The scientist bore down, shaking with the effort, and shouted when the head suddenly came free.

"Well done!" With the sleeve of his parka, Hermann wiped the blood and fluids from the baby's face. "The head is out." he guided Newt's hand down to brush against it and although the man smiled, his eyes were distant. Then he was pushing again, hard, and Hermann realized there was nothing to wrap the baby in. He pulled off his parka, but before he could do anything more, Newt screamed. He pitched backward, his hands scrambling to get away from the pain but his legs immobile, and Hermann grabbed the panicking man by his ankles to keep him from hitting the table. "Don't do this, Newton," he urged. "You're nearly there." But the scientist was in a world of his own, his eyes tightly shut, cursing at the top of his lungs. "Out! Get it out!! FUCK it hurts!" Hermann brought his hand down on Newt's knee, hard. "Geiszler, look at me. Look at me!" The man's eyes sprang open. "You're not helping yourself or the baby by panicking. Now, breathe."

"I can't-" 

"Don't give me that. Deep breaths." Newton inhaled shakily, and let it out in a long sigh. "Good. Just one more strong push. I'll be right here." As the next contraction took hold, Newton closed his eyes and bore down, whimpering as the little body turned inside him. Then the shoulders slipped out, and just like that it was over. He collapsed, his chest heaving. He could hear Hermann muttering, and suddenly a loud cry split the air. A weight on his chest; he looked down to see his baby, its face red and crumpled with indignation as it wailed. "It's a girl." said Hermann gently. 

It took several moments before Newt was able to speak. He placed a cautious hand on his daughter's back, and her cries dwindled into soft gurgles. "Hey kiddo." he whispered. "You were in a hurry, huh?" He looked up at his husband; Hermann's face had softened somewhat, one corner of his mouth turned up in a smile. "Oh my god, Herm, she's beautiful." The smile broadened- but then vanished when Newt groaned again. "It still hurts." said the scientist fearfully. Hermann calmly began to massage the man's deflated belly. "It's just the afterbirth," he explained. "It won't hurt for long." After a couple of pushes from Newt, the afterbirth was delivered and the cord was cut. Hermann quietly disposed of it as Newt wrapped the baby in his parka. She lay snuffling faintly, her tiny face framed by its fur hood. Newt couldn't stop staring. Even when Hermann returned to sit beside him, he barely took his eyes off her. Only when Hermann pressed a kiss to his cheek did he look up. "Althea." he said. 

"Pardon?"

"Her name's Althea."

 

~••◇◇  ◆◆  ◇◇••~


End file.
